SDCT

The Slosson Drawing Coordination Test introduced by Richard L.Slosson (1967).The purpose of
this test is to identify individuals with brain dysfunction or perceptual disorders involving hand
and eye coordination.. This drawing test consists of 12 geometric figures which are copied three
times each. The number of figures attempted, varies depending upon the age of the examinee.
The test can be used with both children and adults from the age of one year or above. The
Slosson Drawing Coordination Test (SDCT) is described as a supplement to the Slosson
Intelligence Test (Slosson, 1963). Both tests seem to be growing in popularity with teachers,
school psychologists, and mental health workers as quick screening devices. The scoring of each
item on the SDCT is either plus or minus. An accuracy score below 85 percent correct is
interpreted as an indicator of possible brain damage. Reviews contained in the Seventh Mental
Measurements Yearbook (Buros, 1972) suggest that the SDCT be used with great care as a
diagnostic tool,and the consensus seemed to be that the test's author has not furnished sufficient
data to demonstrate that it is a valid instrument with regard to the identification of brain damage.

Tools and Material

 Comfortable chair and Desk

 Test sheet
 1 Pencil
 1 Sharpener

Administration

Population: Children and adults

Time : ( 10 – 15) minutes

No of items: 12

Total score : 36

Cut of score : 85%

Some factors are not under the control of the administrator

 How fatigued a test taker is

 Motivation level of the test taker
 Physical Discomfort
 Test Anxiety

These are between subject variables which can affect the test results

Different aspects of standardized Administration

 Controlling the Physical Environment

 Light Levels
 Temperature
 Ambient Noise Level
 Ventilation
 Minimal Distractions

All must be suitable for the examination.

Other Administrative Responsibilities

 Becoming familiar with test

Administrator should read the test manual , and take the test themselves before administering it
to others.
 Understanding the test from 'both sides of the fence' will make the testing session run more
smoothly as the administrator will understand test-takers perspective.
 Specific Directions and procedures should also be reviewed one last time immediately before the
test begins.

Ensuring Satisfactory testing conditions

 Administrator must ensure sufficient seating. Left-handed accommodations, other physical

considerations.
 Chances for cheating can be minimized through seating arrangements, preparing different exam
forms, or multiple answer sheets
 Proper ID may be required for certain tests.

Administration Duties during Test

 Ensure all test takers are given the proper instructions.

 Instructions should be verbally given to ensure test takers hear the proper directions at least once.
 Establishing Rapport with test takers
Test takers should feel they trust the examiner enough to fairly administer the exam and to
answer correctly all reasonable questions concerning the exam.
 Establishing a good relationship with the test taker is especially important in clinical testing
situations.
 Psychological Traits of a good test administrator
 Friendly, objective, authoritative, polite, and appropriate in manner and dress
 Remain Alert: Cheating should always be prevented
 The Test-taking environment has be preserved against unwarranted intrusions or disturbances.
Loud, unruly behavior can not be tolerated within a mass testing situation.
 Preparing for special situations
 Flexibility

General Instructions

 Read the INTRODUCTORY REMARKS on the front cover to the person has being tested. If
very young children are being tested, the directions should be into more simple language.
Children five years of age or younger may use crayon. Young children require much individual
attention and should be given a demonstration blackboard or separate sheet of paper, showing
exactly how the drawings the figures.
 An individual should have a desk or table on which to draw. A pencil with good led also needed.
Pass out of Drawing Sheet to which individual. Children who are able, print their names, last
name first. They should fill in proper date, age as of last grade and indicate “yes” or “no” as to
use of glasses. With very small children and ages can be printed for them by the teacher.
 The individual taking the test should be watched to see that they do not use eraser or compass.
They should be instructed several times during the period to be sure to three drawings of each
figure, copying as many figures as they are years of ages.
 Some individuals may ask more about what the test measure. In such cases repeat previous
sentence of the INTRODUCTORY REMARKS on the front cover. You can also told “This test
helps us find persons who are having certain difficulties connected with poor coordination and
 when we do find them , we can better understand their difficulties and meet their particular
needs”.
 Then individual finish their drawings , they can be told to raise their hands and some child can be
appointed to pick up the papers. Before the papers are collected, the individual should be
instructed to check their drawings carefully to see what they have not draw, any small portions of
the figures.
 It is a rule, this test takes about 10 or 15 minutes to complete. There may be some how
individuals who will take a longer time. In such cases, these individuals should have to draw the
figures carefully but a little more quickly.
 Some individuals may throw down their pencil and say that the drawings are too difficult. In
such cases tell them to do their best to copy the figures as they see them, administer as much
encouragement as is necessary to finish the required number of figures.
 In group testing there is very little difficulty of one child copying the work of another child to be
drawn or copied are “right in front of them”.

Scoring

Each drawing is scored either “plus” when all lines are contained in the drawing, and or “minus”
when the elements are elements are distorted.

Principles of scoring

1. Raw Score

The raw score is the total number of “minus” drawings.

2. Accuracy Score
The Accuracy score is a percentage score for errors at a certain age.
 Psychometric properties

Reliability

The reliability coefficient was .96 for test-retest reliability on a sample ranging from 4 to 52
years, tested at the beginning and the end of the same session. Inter-scorer reliability is high, as
scoring rules have been simplified The reliability coefficient was .96 for test-retest reliability on
a sample ranging from 4 to 52 years, tested at the beginning and the end of the same session.
Inter-scorer reliability is high, as scoring rules have been simplified

Validity

The goal of this test is to screen our individuals with serious forms of brain damage. Individuals
with emotional or mental disturbances, those lacking motivation, or those with vision
impairments may also show an abnormal degree of distortion on this test. There are also brain
dysfunctions that do not involve eye-hand coordination, so this SDCT should be used in
coordination with the SIT to strengths and weaknesses may be determined from the analysis of
scatter. Qualitative validation research involved testing individuals who were known to be brain
damaged.

Norms

Norms have been established for each age level and for each figure. Norms have been
established for groups reflecting the individual’s gender, age, dexterity, artistic ability, vision
defects and disorganizing emotional or mental illness.
 BGT
The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test (abbreviated as Bender-Gestalt test) is a psychological
test used by mental health practitioners that assesses visual-motor functioning, developmental
disorders, and neurological impairments in children ages 3 and older and adults. The test consists
of nine index cards picturing different geometric designs. The cards are presented individually
and test subjects are asked to copy the design before the next card is shown. Test results are
scored based on the accuracy and organization of the reproductions.
The Bender-Gestalt test was originally developed in 1938 by child psychiatrist Lauretta
Bender. Additional versions were developed by other later practitioners, although adaptations
designed as projective tests have been heavily criticized in the clinical literature due to their lack
of psychometric validity. All versions follow the same general format but differ in how results
are evaluated and scored.
Background.
The first version of the Bender-Gestalt test was developed in 1938 by child neuropsychiatrist
Lauretta Bender. The original test consists of nine index cards with different figures on each
card. The subject is shown each figure and asked to copy it onto a piece of blank paper. The test
typically takes 7–10 minutes, after which the results are scored based on accuracy and
organization. It can be administered on both children and adults ages three and older.[1]
Bender first described her Visual Motor Gestalt Test in a 1938 monograph entitled: A Visual
Motor Gestalt Test and Its Clinical Use. The figures were derived from the work of the Gestalt
psychologist Max Wertheimer] It ranked in the top five most popular psychological tests used by
mental health practitioners, particularly school psychologists, from the 1960s until the early
1990s when participation in the required training began to decline. It measures perceptual motor
skills, perceptual motor development, and gives an indication of neurological deficits.
Additional versions were developed by later practitioners, although adaptations designed as
projective tests have been heavily criticized in the clinical literature due to their lack of
psychometric validity. All versions follow the same general format, but differ in how results are
evaluated and scored.
History.
The impetus for the clinical use of the Bender Gestalt came in the late 1930s when Max L. Hutt,
an Instructor at the Educational Clinic of City College of New York became interested in
developing a nonverbal projective personality test. The advantages of such an instrument would
eliminate problems with language as well as prevent the test subjects from consciously screening
their responses and the reproduction of the nine Bender Test Figures by test subjects could be
accomplished in as little as ten minutes.
Reasoning that providing a test subject with several sheets of blank paper, a pencil, and
explaining that "you are going to be shown some cards, one at a time, with a simple design on
each of them and you are to copy them as well as you can. Do it any way you think is best for
you. This is not a test of artistic ability, but try to copy the designs as well as you can" would
confront the subject with an ambiguous problem to solve. With no further instructions and the
response of "do it in any way you think is best" to any questions, the subject was forced to
interpret the task and proceed in a manner that was consistent with the individual's accustomed
personality style.
Hutt subsequently developed a series of "test factors" with suggestions as to the personality
characteristics with which they might be associated.
However, nothing regarding this preliminary work was published and it remained out of the
mainstream of educational psychology, which at that time was virtually limited to intelligence,
ability and vocational interest testing.
However, with the United States entering into World War II in 1941, Hutt was commissioned in
the U.S. Army and assigned as a consultant in Psychology to the Surgeon General's Office in
Washington. The Army was experiencing a need to quickly train and deploy both Psychiatrists
and Psychologists to meet the vastly increased need of professionals to diagnose and treat the
emotional problems that develop in the stress of wartime military duty.
Hutt's first assignment was to train Psychologists as clinicians and he established classes at
Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. There he introduced the Bender-Gestalt Test to
classes of inducted and commissioned psychologists who in prior years had experience in
educational clinics, schools, and mental institutions. In 1945 he published and distributed a
mimeographed "Tentative Guide for the Administration and Interpretation of the Bender-Gestalt
Test" which had, in the previous three years, been widely adopted and utilized in the U.S.
military. The clinicians trained by Hutt and now discharged and continuing the practice and
teaching of Clinical Psychology in civilian life made the Bender-Gestalt one of the most widely
utilized psychological tests.
In 1959, Hutt met with a former student and recent Army Officer and Psychologist, Dr. Gerald J.
Briskin, who had served during the Korean War and who had made considerable use of the
Bender-Gestalt during his military service. Briskin had acquired extensive experience with that
test in treating and diagnosing brain damage and stress-related psychological and psychiatric
disorders.
Their discussions and exchange of clinical findings led to the decision to bring their joint
extensive experience with the Bender Gestalt in one definitive volume and that led to the
publication of "The Clinical use of the Revised Bender-Gestalt Test, N.Y. Grune and Stratton,
1960.
Subsequently, Elizabeth M. Koppitz adopted several of the Hutt and Briskin scoring factors in
her subsequent work, The Bender-Gestalt Test for Young Children.
The test has been used as a screening device for brain damage. Bender herself said it was "a
method of evaluating maturation of gestalt functioning children 4-11's brain functioning by
which it responds to a given constellation of stimuli as a whole, the response being a motor
process of patterning the perceived gestalt."
Bender-II
Originally published by the American Orthopsychiatric Association, it was purchased in the
1990s by Riverside Publishing company and released with a revised qualitative scoring system
as the Bender-II under the direction of Dr. Gary Brannigan and Dr. Scott L. Decker. The Bender-
II contains 16 figures versus 9 in the original. The new or revised scoring system for the Bender-
II was developed based on empirical investigation of numerous scoring systems. The Global
Scoring System was, tangentially related to Bender's original scoring method and a revision of a
system devised by Branigan in the 1980s, was selected based on reliability and validity studies,
as well as its ease of use and construct clarity. Elizabeth Koppitz, a clinical child psychologist
and school psychologist (who worked most of her career in New York), developed a scoring
system in the 1960s devoted to assessing the maturation of visual-motor skills in children,
remaining true to Bender's aim for the test, and popularized its use in the schools. For decades,
the Koppitz version, known as the Bender-Gestalt Test for Young Children, was one of the most
frequently used scoring systems for the Bender-Gestalt in the United States. After Koppitz's
death in the early 1980s, the use of the method held its popularity until the mid-1990s, when it
was withdrawn from the market as a result of publishing company consolidations.
Steve Mathews and Cecil Reynolds (a friend of Koppitz for some years near the end of her life)
were eventually able to locate the publishing rights to the Koppitz version of the Bender-Gestalt,
and these rights were subsequently acquired by Pro-Ed Publishing Company of Austin Texas,
which then retained Cecil Reynolds to revise the Koppitz version. It was released under
Reynolds' authorship in 2007 by Pro-Ed as the Koppitz-2: The Koppitz Developmental Scoring
System for the Bender-Gestalt Test. A portion of the proceeds of all sales of the Koppitz-2 goes
to the American Psychological Foundation to support the Koppitz scholarships in child clinical
psychology.
It is important to note that when the test-taker has a mental age less than 9, brain damage, a
nonverbal learning disability, or an emotional problem, an error can occur in the results of the
test.
Purpose
The Bender Gestalt Test is used to evaluate visual maturity, visual motor integration skills, style
of responding, reaction to frustration, ability to correct mistakes, planning and organizational
skills, and motivation. Copying figures requires fine motor skills, the ability
to discriminate between visual stimuli, the capacity to integrate visual skills with motor skills,
and the ability to shift attention from the original design to what is being drawn.
Precautions
The Bender Gestalt Test should not be administered to an individual with severe visual
impairment unless his or her vision has been adequately corrected with eyeglasses.
Additionally, the test should not be given to an examinee with a severe motor impairment, as the
impairment would affect his or her ability to draw the geometric figures correctly. The test scores
might thereby be distorted.
The Bender Gestalt Test has been criticized for being used to assess problems with organic
factors in the brain. This criticism stems from the lack of specific signs on the Bender Gestalt
Test that are definitively associated with brain injury, mental retardation , and
other physiological disorders. Therefore, when making a diagnosis of brain injury, the Bender
Gestalt Test should never be used in isolation. When making a diagnosis, results from the Bender
Gestalt Test should be used in conjunction with other medical, developmental, educational,
psychological, and neuropsychological information.
Finally, psychometric testing requires administration and evaluation by a clinically trained
examiner. If a scoring system is used, the examiner should carefully evaluate its reliability and
validity, as well as the normative sample being used. A normative sample is a group within a
population who takes a test and represents the larger population. This group's scores on a test are
then be used to create "norms" with which the scores of test takers are compared.
The Bender Gestalt Test is an individually administered pencil and paper test used to make a
diagnosis of brain injury. There are nine geometric figures drawn in black. These figures are
presented to the examinee one at a time; then, the examinee is asked to copy the figure on a
blank sheet of paper. Examinees are allowed to erase, but cannot use any mechanical aids (such
as rulers). The popularity of this test among clinicians is most likely the short amount of time it
takes to administer and score. The average amount of time to complete the test is five to ten
minutes.
The Bender Gestalt Test lends itself to several variations in administration. One method requires
that the examinee view each card for five seconds, after which the card is removed. The
examinee draws the figure from memory. Another variation involves having the examinee draw
the figures by following the standard procedure. The examinee is then given a clean sheet of
paper and asked to draw as many figures as he or she can recall. Last, the test is given to a group,
rather than to an individual (i.e., standard administration). It should be noted that these variations
were not part of the original test.
Results
A scoring system does not have to be used to interpret performance on the Bender Gestalt Test;
however, there are several reliable and valid scoring systems available. Many of the available
scoring systems focus on specific difficulties experienced by the test taker. These difficulties
may indicate poor visual-motor abilities that include:
 Angular difficulty: This includes increasing, decreasing, distorting, or omitting an angle
in a figure.
 Bizarre doodling: This involves adding peculiar components to the drawing that have no
relationship to the original Bender Gestalt figure.
 Closure difficulty: This occurs when the examinee has difficulty closing open spaces on a
figure, or connecting various parts of the figure. This results in a gap in the copied figure.
 Cohesion: This involves drawing a part of a figure larger or smaller than shown on the
original figure and out of proportion with the rest of the figure. This error may also
include drawing a figure or part of a figure significantly out of proportion with other
figures that have been drawn.
 Collision: This involves crowding the designs or allowing the end of one design to
overlap or touch a part of another design.
 Contamination: This occurs when a previous figure, or part of a figure, influences the
examinee in adequate completion of the current figure. For example, an examinee may
combine two different Bender Gestalt figures.
 Fragmentation: This involves destroying part of the figure by not completing or breaking
up the figures in ways that entirely lose the
 Impotence: This occurs when the examinee draws a figure inaccurately and seems to
recognize the error, then, he or she makes several unsuccessful attempts to improve the
drawing.
  Irregular line quality or lack of motor coordination: This involves drawing rough lines,
particularly when the examinee shows a tremor motion, during the drawing of the figure.
 Line extension: This involves adding or extending a part of the copied figure that was not
on the original figure.
 Omission: This involves failing to adequately connect the parts of a figure
or reproducing only parts of a figure.
 Overlapping difficulty: This includes problems in drawing portions of the figures that
overlap, simplifying the drawing at the point that it overlaps, sketching or redrawing the
overlapping portions, or otherwise distorting the figure at the point at which it overlaps.
 Perseveration: This includes increasing, prolonging, or continuing the number of units in
a figure. For example, an examinee may draw significantly more dots or circles than
shown on the original figure.
 Retrogression: This involves substituting more primitive figures for the original design—
for example, substituting solid lines or loops for circles, dashes for dots, dots for circles,
circles for dots, or filling in circles. There must be evidence that the examinee is capable
of drawing more mature figures.
 Rotation: This involves rotating a figure or part of a figure by 45° or more. This error is
also scored when the examinee rotates the stimulus card that is being copied.
 Scribbling: This involves drawing primitive lines that have no relationship to the original
Bender Gestalt figure.
 Simplification: This involves replacing a part of the figure with a more simplified figure.
This error is not due to maturation. Drawings that are primitive in terms of maturation
would be categorized under "Retrogression."
 Superimposition of design: This involves drawing one or more of the figures on top of
each other.
 Workover: This involves reinforcing, increased pressure, or overworking a line or lines in
a whole or part of a figure.
Additionally, observing the examinee's behavior while drawing the figures can provide the
examiner with an informal evaluation and data that can supplement the formal evaluation of the
examinee's visual and perceptual functioning. For example, if an examinee takes a large amount
of time to complete the geometric figures, it may suggest a slow, methodical approach to tasks,
compulsive tendencies, or depressive symptoms. If an examinee rapidly completes the test, this
could indicate an impulsive style.